With so many crises consuming the international public in recent years, particularly in the health sector and by way of natural disasters that risk communication and crisis management and planning has become a new growth area and of growing interest to students learning public relations. ON Tuesday August 4, instead of regular lectures, I invited my students taking Advanced Public Relations to attend a seminar put on by the Business School at James Cook University (Townsville, QLD, AUSTRALIA) on Disaster Management in the state of Queensland.
The keynote speakers included experts in Disaster Management across Queensland and senior members of the Audtralian Defence Force. The speakers gave a very interesting presentation and useful insights into how disasters are prepared for and managed in Australia. Some of the suggestions came from the response review of Hurricane Katrina in the United States. Although that diaster was perceived to be mishandled, a ot of lessons had been learnt from this experience and Australia adopts/adapts and reflects this model. The following is what I learned from the presentations. I hope you find it useful.
The major planks in disaster management in QLD/Australia follows the following acronym, PPRR: PREVENTION; PREPARATION; RESPONSE and RECOVERY. Prevention requires taking steps to mitigate the problem before it occurs. Preparation requires planning; Response speaks to the operational mechanisms put in place in the height of the disaster and Recovery involves the whole of government working together to rebuild and repair after a diaster.
Prevention
In terms of prevention and mitigating of disasers, effecting capital works are mandatory such as ensuring that building codes, are being adhered to; as well as zoning and land use. The reinforcement of infrastructure and educating the community is an important part of what .. called "flood resilience".
Preparedness
Preparedness suggests cretaing an informed community, attention to emergency management and planning; effecting proper warning systems; evacuation procedures and training and exercising of diaster response personnel.
Response
This includes establishing a disaster management group at the local state and federal levels of the state; coordination centres that would operate at the local community level. Warning and alert systems have to be designed at this level; resources acquired to effect the plans and evacuation, rescue effected.
Recovery
This involves 4 elements: Economic, Social, Infrastructural and Environmental. This would naturally invole community or city councils and the larger government system.
The state of Queensland is said to be vulnerable to disasters such as floods as it's loacted near transport rivers and ports; possess good drinking water; fertile lands; rainfall etc. Since people were attracted to these elements, they tend to build houses near these centres. In addition, development patterns pushed people to previously hazard prone lands. For example, people are feeling comfortable to live in heavily wooded secluded areas such as Victoria but are increasingly at risk from Bushfires when they break out.Some of the disasters whic have affected the state of QLD in recent years have been storm surges which indundate roads and entire communities, cyclones (hurricanes), floods, the equine influenza (horse flu) and oil spills.
As a national of the Caribbean (Jamaica) which is flood prone and have been hit by several hurricanes over the last 30 years, I found the QLD Disaster Management System effected by the State Government an effective one which should be adopted by small states such as Jamaica. The model reflects a bottom up approach to information flow and resource supply. It begins at the local government level within the councils and community grouos. It then filters up to what is called a "Disaster District", then to the State Government and then upwards to the Commonwealth Government. In this model, the people at the local government level say what kind of support they need and then the higher up level of the state respond accordingly.
Too often in the Caribbean, it is the opposite which takes place where a disaster occurs and the national government intervenes and determines what the resources are and takes control of the response. Mind you, the Australian Disaster response seems to reflect how the Australian Government works. Local city councils are empowered to operate autonomously to manage the development and operation of their various cities. This does not mean they have all the answers are know everything about their needs but in times of disaster, the bottom up approach works better as those at the bottom are in the best position to determine their challenges and request asssistance of the state. During the Australian Bushfires in Feb 2009, this bottom up approach worked nicely as the Victorial Government responded, assessed their needs and then approached the Federal Government to assist.
Naturally, in oder to 'solve big problems quickly', the Australian Defence Force may be called in. The goals of Disaster Management I gathered from this seminar - can be summed up in the following bulleted points:
Fight Apathy
Develop an Active Community
Effect Community Risk Reduction
Secure Vulnerable Infrastructure
Ensure Community Resilience - people should be able to take care of themselves for at least three days ( even without regular water supply, power etc if needs be).
Educate the Young at school (to develop preventative skills to teach their families.
It is also important to note that the water Supply system, sewerage and power supply should be able to withstand the pressure of a national disaster and governments must ensure that these are secure. the better secure, the quicker the recovery.
Disaster teams must coordinate and communicate well with each other. The communication and Public relations component is a critical part of disaster management. Despite the presence of resource, uncordination of teams and activities can affect outcomes. For example, it was clear that uncoordination and poor communication impacted the quality of the response and recovery process after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in the United States.
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